New Delhi, Nov. 28: Renewing its cry against privatisation of airports, the Left has slammed the UPA government for following in the NDA’s footsteps.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leaders of four Left parties have accused the government of violating its commitment in the common minimum programme (CMP) and going ahead with its plan to privatise Delhi and Mumbai airports.

“The entire workforce of Airports Authority of India (AAI) under a joint forum including engineers, architects and professionals has been strongly opposing this route of modernisation through privatisation,” it said.

The signatories to the letter included Prakash Karat, A.B. Bardhan and Debabrata Biswas ? the general secretaries of the CPM, CPI and the Forward Bloc, respectively ? and RSP secretary Abani Roy.

The leaders urged the Centre to consider the alternative plan for modernisation submitted by the Airports Authority Union ? that funds can be mobilised through internal resources.

“In the absence of a consensus on this issue, the government should immediately speed up the modernisation plan submitted by the airport employees,” said the missive.

The Left stressed that the AAI has been consistently earning profits and boasts of a reserve of Rs 2,500 crore.

Privatisation of airports has been one of the thorns in the Left-UPA ties since the alliance came to power. Left trade unions ? particularly the Citu, which has a strong support base among airport employees ? have categorically ruled out accepting the privatisation proposal.

The Left leaders pointed out in the letter that the “obsession of the NDA government to privatise airports instead of modernising them” has brought the process of upgrading them to a halt. A recent report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee has noted with concern the long-pending projects of modernisation of Mumbai and Delhi airports.

The letter expressed “regret” that the government, despite its commitment in the CMP not to privatise profit-making PSUs, “continues to tread the same path”.

“We express our firm opposition to any unilateral decision for the privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports, the two major profit centres of a successful PSU like AAI, which has been consistently earning a profit,” the leaders underlined in their missive.